THE LAITY AND REFORM IN THE CHURCH:

A SIX NATION STUDY

Michael Hout and Andrew Greeley

The Catholic laity hopes for a new pope who will be attentive to the realities of their lives and open to change. He should achieve these goals by giving autonomy to the local bishops, appointing lay advisors, returning to the practice of electing local bishops, ordaining women, and allowing priests to marry. If enacted these reforms will make the church a more pluralistic and democratic institution. Our analysis of representative national surveys of the Catholic laity in six countries – Spain, Ireland, the United States, Italy, Poland, and the Philippines -- support this conclusion. The younger and better educated laity in each country lead the call for reform. (Data from the Germany will be available in the spring).

To separate Catholics’ image of the church they would like to see from their personal loyalty (or animus) to the present pope, we asked them about the next pope – the one who will be chosen by the cardinals after the death or retirement of Pope John Paul II (whenever that may be). We posed the question this way:

We are interested in what type of leader Catholics would like to see elected the next pope. As you may know, when a pope dies the cardinals meet in Rome to elect the next pope. The last time a pope was elected was in 1978 when Pope John Paul II was elected.

We followed this preamble with seven questions (more in some countries) that addressed concerns with the institutional form of the Catholic Church. We did not ask about doctrinal issues, save arguably the ordination of women, or matters of faith. Table 1 shows the exact wording of each question and the responses in each country. A majority of the laity support change of some sort in each country, and in some countries, majorities support all seven reforms we proposed to them.

The most reform minded countries are – hold your breath – Spain and Ireland. These two very Catholic countries want change more than any of the others. Each of the seven reforms gets support from over 58 percent of Catholics in Spain and Ireland. The exact profile of support differs slightly between them. They are the two countries where the largest majorities stress the next pope’s "openness to change." The Spanish Catholics give particularly strong support to proposition that the pope should attend to the life of the laity and grant their bishops more autonomy; they are less keen about the election of local bishops. The Irish Catholics particularly favor lay advisors and married priests. Support for the ordination of women is highest in these two countries (with the United States not far behind).

The United States and Italy fall in the middle of the six countries in this study. American Catholics endorse six of the seven items by roughly a two-to-one margin. The exception is the item about autonomy for local bishops that gets "only" 58 percent support. The Italians are among the most populist nations with 77 percent supporting a pope who will emphasize the life of the laity over religious themes. On the other hand, autonomy for local bishops fails (by two percentage points) to get a majority. The Italians also show a lower level of support for "a pope open to change" than would be expected from their support for specific changes.

Polish Catholics, on the other hand, support specific reforms less than might be expected given their strong (58 percent) support for a pope more open to change. A majority of Poles support the election of bishops, autonomy for bishops, an emphasis on the life of the laity, and marriage for priests. The call for lay advisors falls one percentage point short of a majority. Only ordination of women is strongly opposed – but that by a three-to-one margin. Catholics in the Philippines are the most conservative. A strong majority thinks that lay advisors would improve the church and a slim majority supports electing bishops. None of the other reforms secures the support of a majority. Changes in the composition of the priesthood get particularly strong opposition in the Philippines; they would stay with a celibate, male-only clergy by a four-to-one margin.

Remarkably, the only reform to win a majority of support in all six countries is the election of bishops. Remarkable because this issue is not an item on any group’s agenda for change. Many respondents were probably stating an opinion on the matter for the first time when they answered this question (unlike some other issues like the ordination of women and allowing priests to marry which are widely discussed). They answered in a manner consistent with the democratic institutions that surround them. Each of the six countries selects their head of government and local officials democratically. When asked about selecting a church leader democratically, they responded in the affirmative.

Could it be that some Catholics seek reform in some issue domains, say church governance, while others emphasize their issues, say ordination of women, without much general support for change? It could be but it is not that way. The support for reform lies along a clear pro-reform / anti-reform continuum in each country. We performed factor analyses of the seven items in each country and found a single, dominant factor in each.

Age, Education, Gender, and Reform

Catholics under 40 and those with an academic education more strongly support reform than older and less-educated Catholics. We can see this by comparing responses to the election of bishops. Similar patterns hold for the other six items and going through all the results would be redundant.

The younger Catholics in each country support election of bishops more than older ones do. The margin ranges from 14 percentage points in Ireland to no difference in the Philippines. Seventy-one percent of the Irish under 40 support the election of bishops compared with 68 percent of Americans, 62 percent of Spaniards, 61 percent of Polish, 60 percent of Italians, and 48 percent of Filipinos under 40 years old.

Academically educated Catholics in each country support the election of bishops more than less educated Catholics do. Seventy percent of Irish with an academic secondary education, some university education, or a degree from a university support the election of bishops compared with 66 percent of similarly educated Spaniards, 65 percent of Americans with some college or a degree, 61 percent of Poles with academic secondary or university education, 60 percent of Italians with that kind of education, and 56 percent of Filipinos with post-secondary education.

American women give more support to reform than American men on every issue except the ordination of women – an issue on which interestingly enough men are more supportive. Gender gaps are much less pervasive elsewhere. In Spain, Ireland, and Poland, men and women do not differ significantly on the election of bishops or most other items. In Italy 64 percent of men but only 46 percent of women support election of bishops; in the Philippines, 54 percent of men and 47 percent of women support episcopal elections.

Conclusion

After a generation of private opposition to Vatican teachings on sexual conduct, Catholics from a wide variety of nations in Europe and from the United States call for institutional reforms that will reflect the pluralism in the church. Large majorities support changes that will open the church in ways that will allow many voices to be heard. Through electing bishops, advising bishops and the pope himself, and exercising some degree of local autonomy, lay Catholics could carve a more influential niche for themselves. They hope that the next pope will accord them the opportunity.

Catholics also support changes in the clergy. They like the idea that priests might marry. In Spain, Ireland, and the United States, they support the ordination of women by a two-to-one margin. In Italy, a clear majority also agrees. The Polish and Filipino Catholics oppose ordaining women. Against those tempted to dismiss these findings on the grounds that the Church is not a democracy and hence the Cardinal-electors need not consider the wishes of the laity we offer the arguments of prudence and history. While not required to consider the views of the laity, the Cardinal-electors would be very well advised to do so. For the Church is not now nor has it ever been embodied in the hierarchy. It is standard teaching that the people of the Church are the Body of Christ. Their concerns should carry enormous weight with those who would be their leaders. From history we know that local bishops used to be elected – in less democratic times. There may be arguments against the practice but only those ignorant of history could suggest that an elected episcopate is foreign to the nature of the church. Electing bishops and respecting their autonomy in matters of local concern would return the church to an ecclesiastical administrative style taken for granted for over a thousand years.

Speaking from the perspective of sociologists we are unable to respond directly to those who say that the election of the pope is the right and privilege of the cardinals and is no one else’s business.

However, three observations of a sociological sort can be made:

1) No one could possibly claim that the right of the Cardinal-electors is part of the essence of the Church (much less their preference to do as they please).

2) In the contemporary world those who are unhappy with the selection of a leader, any leader, are less likely to follow that leader, even if they do not formally break with him. Such a leader may reign, to be sure, but it will be harder for him to rule.

3) As we understand Catholic theology – and we are subject to correction by those more learned in these matters – the Spirit of God is present in the people as well as in the leadership. The leadership would be imprudent, not to say arrogant, to dismiss the possibility that the Spirit might be speaking to them through the wishes and insights of the ordinary people.

 

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Table: "Pluralistic" Responses by Country

Spain Ireland USA Italy Poland Philippines
Life of Laity 87% 75% 69% 77% 51% 47%
Married Priests 79% 82% 69% 67% 50% 21%
Elect Bishops 58% 63% 65% 67% 55% 51%
Lay Advisers 77% 82% 65% 62% 49% 68%
Local Bishops 74% 63% 58% 48% 53% 37%
Women Priests 71% 67% 65% 58% 24% 18%
More Change 74% 79% 65% 51% 56% 48%
Average 74% 73% 65% 61% 48% 41%
N = 1080 489 770 687 830 1029


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Question Wording:

We are interested in what type of leader Catholics would like to see elected the next Pope. As you may know, when a pope dies, the Cardinals meet in Rome to elect a new pope. The last time a Pope was elected was in 1978 when Pope John Paul II was elected:

1. Which would you consider more important in choosing a pope, that the pope show more concern about what life is like for ordinary people or that the pope should show more concern about religious issues?
   
2. Would you favor or oppose the next pope permitting priests to marry?
   
3. Currently Catholic bishops are appointed by the Vatican. In the past bishops were elected by priests and people within their own dioceses. Would your prefer the next pope to continue to appoint bishops or would you prefer to have bishops chosen by priests and people within their own diocese?
   
4. How would you feel about letting representative lay people have more of a voice in the Catholic Church for example by serving as advisors to the pope. Would you favor this.?
   
5. Would you like to see the next pope give more decision making power to the bishops in this country or do you think the pope should continue to make most of the decisions for the church?
   
6. Would you favor or oppose the next pope allowing the ordination of women to the priesthood?
   
7. Would you like the next pope to be more open to change in the church or do you think things are OK the way they are?

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